Children ‘Take Flight’ Page 3
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LOUISIANANEWS, OPPORTUNITIES AND WITNESS OF UNITED METHODIST MINISTRIES NOW www.la-umc.org I Fall 2015 Children ‘Take Flight’ PAGE 3 ‘Feed Dat’ ministries PAGE 6 Cooking up a ‘Cultural Gumbo’ PAGE 8 Playing in the ‘Sandbox’ ERMIT #575 ERMIT P PAGE 10 70802-5700 A L UGE, Ro ON BAT A L ouge, R Baton PAID 527 North Blvd. North 527 STAGE O P U.S. FIT O -PR NON Conference UM A L BISHOP’S MESSAGE is day, I can see the power windmills on top of the hill they call Scenic Mountain – trust me, it Mary said, “With all my heart I glorify the Lord! In is no mountain. At that 19-mile mark, I can smell the food the depths of who I am, I rejoice in God my savior. cooking in my mother’s kitchen. I can hear my He has looked with favor on the low status of his sister’s laugh. I can see my dad pacing back and forth in the living room, peeking through the servant. Look! From now on, everyone will consider curtains every once in a while, looking to see if me highly favored because the mighty one has done he can see me coming down the street. It is the longest 19 miles of the trip, but per- great things for me. Holy is his name. He shows haps the best. You see, it is in these 19 miles that mercy to everyone, from one generation to the next, I can begin to hope for what I know has always been true – love awaits my arrival. who honors him as God. He has shown strength with That trip has been very different over the last his arm. He has scattered those with arrogant few years. My mother has died. My sister’s laugh- ter is but a memory, as is my father’s pacing. thoughts and proud inclinations. He has pulled the But the sights, the smells, the sounds, the love powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the are still there. I experience them still in a very real way. lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and So, even though the Christmas music has been sent the rich away empty-handed. He has come to playing in department stores since Halloween, we are not there yet! We are just officially get- the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, ting started! just as he promised to our ancestors to Abraham and The sign says, “Christmas – 19 miles” and if you are like me, you are hoping against all hope to Abraham’s descendants forever.” Luke 1:46-56 that something special might happen. That we can know and experience what we’ve always known to be true – love awaits our arrival. Can you see it from here? Maybe you can even smell it and hear it, but we are not quite there yet. We’re so close, yet so far. HOPE FOR We are no different than those who longingly awaited the arrival of the Messiah. They stood on the same edge we stand – 19 miles away, hoping against all hope that the Messiah would bring TOMORROW change, fulfillment and new life into THEIR life. Where is hope for you? Your real hope? For I grew up in far West Texas in a small town, Big today? For tomorrow? Spring. Often when people ask me where that is, I love “Mary’s Song,” or the “Magnificat.” I tell them it is not the end of the world, but you Mary’s song is a song of hope. can almost see it from there. It is a song of reversal. Mary’s song anticipates When I go to Big Spring, I often fly because it and models what God will do for the poor, the is entirely too far to drive from almost anywhere. powerless and the oppressed. I fly of course not into Big Spring – there is no It is a song of hope for all people. It is in her airport there but into Midland-Odessa. joy and hope for a better world that she sings this I have a routine. I fly in, pick up my rental car song of liberation. and head the 30-40 miles east on Interstate 20. I When you look at this story closely, you begin can almost set the car on cruise control and take to see a story of working class folk living in dif- Bishop Cynthia a nap.If you have ever been out in that part of ficult times; in circumstances not too different Fierro Harvey the world, you know how flat and straight it is. from those faced by millions of people today, Big Spring sits on a bit of a hill and there is a like you and me. point in the trip when I spot my favorite sign – Mary, the young mother in the Christmas “Big Spring, 19 miles.” story, is unreasonably confident that the future At that 19-mile mark, I can see Big Spring! If will be better. Her song is indeed revolutionary. it is night, I can see the lights of the town. If it continued on page 15 2 I LOUISIANA NOW Partnering with the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, Faith Crossing United Methodist Church in Walker sponsors a mobile food pantry one Sunday a month on church grounds. The food ministry has drawn many community neighbors to the church, where friendships have developed between those being served and the congregation. Faith Crossing UMC helps the children on After engaging them in conversation, the children “excitedly” told Beth of other kids who lived on Hummingbird Lane that she hadn’t Hummingbird Lane met yet. “When I discovered that an elderly cou- ple from our congregation also lived on the same street, I could not deny my directive to develop a ministry action plan that would reach ‘TAKE FLIGHT’ out to these children.” After just a brief visit to the house of Bob and Carolyn Dupre, long-time United Methodists, eth Lawson, a charter member of the vision for a ministry action plan on Hum- Faith Crossing UMC, was serving as mingbird Lane started to take shape. “We car- the church’s children’s coordinator in ried a conviction that the kids who lived there the spring of 2014. Through her work, needed someone to model what it means to be BBeth became acquainted with a group of nine a disciple of Jesus Christ, right in their very own elementary school-aged children who lived on community,” said Lawson. Hummingbird Lane, a street near the church. Through prayer and discernment, it was These children were only brought to church on decided that Beth would begin meeting with occasion. “I quickly realized we only saw these the children on Fridays, immediately after they particular kids on the one Sunday a month that got off the school bus. The group would gather we hosted the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank,” at the home of the Dupres, which just happened said Lawson. to be the school bus stop. e Help came from everywhere, it seemed. The UMC. “But we encouraged her to preach in Dupres offered their front porch. Lawson’s the open air, like Wesley and Whitfield. Beth father offered his guitar for music. Her seven- delivered her sermon to children and adults year-old daughter offered her Bible. And an from Hummingbird Lane as they gathered old friend showed up at Lawson’s house with around a fire and drank coffee and hot choco- $90 that paid for enough five-gallon buckets, late. It was a blessing to see her gifts as a pastor colored duct tape and sticks to make drums for develop as she ministered to these wonderful all of the kids on Hummingbird Lane. families,” said Clifton. The first gathering was held May 2, 2014. “I After 13 months of serving the children of was there, waiting for them with ‘high-fives.’ Hummingbird Lane as a lay member of Faith We asked them about the best and hardest Crossing UMC, Lawson was licensed as a local parts of their week. Our activities included pastor by the Louisiana Annual Conference. scripture reading, prayer and making musi- “The same week I received that license, I was cal instruments with whatever we had. These once again on Hummingbird Lane. A little kids had a genuine interest in the Word of God. boy, who had participated in this gathering Essentially, we created an intentional disciple- from the beginning, came to me and told me ship community that is similar in many ways he wanted to be baptized. I shared in his joy to a Wesleyan class meeting,” said Lawson. with him, and asked him talk to his parents Rev. Warren Clifton arrived at Faith Cross- about it. The very next week, there were five ing UMC in the summer of 2014 to serve as the children who wanted to be baptized—and the congregation’s new pastor. “I was greeted by this group of children who invited me to their Bible study. I had no idea what to expect, but that Friday, I drove to Hummingbird Lane to find a group of children waiting in the road, waving me down to be sure I found the address. I sat in the porch swing and listened to these children read passages from the Sermon on the Mount and watched as they prayed for each other and for their neighbors. We had church!,” said Rev. Clifton. Rain or shine, the group met.